The present invention relates to an optical recording medium and more particularly to a high-density optical recording medium having a track width smaller than an optical spot diameter.
An example of a medium for performing high-density (narrow track) recording is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-6-176404. According to this example, in an optical recording medium having grooves and lands which are formed on a substrate and information recording areas which are formed in association with both the groove and the land, prepits are disposed on a virtual extension line of the boundary between a groove and a land. In particular, the prepits are located on only one side of any specific position of the center line of each groove.
With this construction, recording information is formed on both the groove and the land, the prepits have charge of address data representative of the recording areas and one prepit is used in common to a pair of adjacent groove and land to provide address data therefor. When the technique as above is applied to, for example, a phase change recording medium or a magneto-optical recording medium, interference of information (crosstalk) between adjacent lands or grooves due to the optical interference effect within an optical spot can be prevented, thereby permitting narrowing of track.
On the other hand, in the prepit area free from the optical interference effect, the address data can be common to the paired groove and land and the effective track pitch can be increased to reduce crosstalk.
In the example of JP-A-6-176404, however, the disposition of the prepit area is offset on one side of the center line of the groove or land, so that when an optical spot is caused to track a groove or a land, a tracking error (tracking offset) increases, making it difficult to perform high-density recording in which the track pitch is narrowed.